Category: In Perspective

I was recently re-elected to be Chair of the Attempt Survivor and Lived Experience Division for AAS. It was a challenging election cycle that required a second, run-off vote. In the candidate statements, my challenger included pointed critiques of my performance as Chair. This brought to mind the quote from President Roosevelt: It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of…

As I wrote a year ago, Life sometimes gets in the way of projects and ideas and we need to have the persistence to keep going in spite of setbacks. I tried my best with the four student co-authors that I had last year but the project didn’t work out. I received one completed book module (on Eating Disorders), which was very well written and showed the potential for the project. I went back to…

13 Reasons Why – Resources In a prior post I provided a link to resources related to the hit Netflix Series “13 Reasons Why” (13RW) – and a little while after that, SPRC compiled resources and put together a page of their own. Their list is well organized, and will likely be the “go to” spot for the suicide prevention community. 13 Reasons Why – My experience I promised to provide my honest thoughts about…

To be well-informed I’m currently in the process of watching the 13 Reasons Why series on Netflix. I’m about halfway through my viewing marathon. I’ll post my honest thoughts about the series, and the debate that has followed, it in a separate post. However, in the meantime, I’ve pulled together all of talking points and references that I found while combing through one of the main discussion boards of the suicide prevention community (via American…

This post presents the “number crunching” used to make the points given in the final part of the series on peer support. I thought it might make sense to look at the numbers to see an alternative perspective. I’m a stats guy. I have fun with numbers, and wanted to run through this exercise to guesstimate the size of the impact for clinical intervention given the many holes that exist before a person reaches care. Again,…

I have thus far presented a case that peer support could be considered a promising practice based on research, theory, and a solid historical background. The final step in this series is to present an argument for suicide prevention to invest in peer programs (sooner the better). Folks keep asking, “Why haven’t we made a dent in the suicide rate?” Some say that it’s because our interventions are not effective. Yet, we have studies that show…

In prior posts I have provided a basic intro to peer support, some highlights from its history, and theories related to how it can contribute to suicide prevention. The next step is to provide research evidence that provide the foundation for describing this as a promising practice worthy of investment. Note: As described here and consistent with others, a “promising practice” is a program or other intervention that has the potential to effectively address suicidal…

Peer support has a long history and has garnered support from many important sources, as illustrated in part 2 of this series. Connecting someone who has survived a suicidal crisis to peers is one of the core values in The Way Forward, which states: As peers, we can provide social support and a sense of community while also sharing experiential knowledge and practical advice about coping skills, serving as positive role models for others. Furthermore,…

The intent of this second post is to illustrate that the concept of peer support is not new, and has a long and impressive history, which has included support from sources including SAMHSA and the U.S. Surgeon General, among others. This is not meant to be an exhaustive review of the history, but to provide a solid reference point. Highlights from the History of Peer Support Suicide Attempt Survivors in Suicide Prevention As noted…